A Kingdom Under Seige explains the
political and social background to the Maoist insurgency that has embroiled Nepal's
government, political parties, king, police, and army against highly motivated guerilla
fighters since 1996. By early 2003, the rebels had come to threaten the central
institutions of the Nepali state. The authors describe how a combination of state neglect,
political instability and the growth of radical left politics led to a build up of
tensions.Information

Conflict and Confrontation in South East Asia,
1961-1965: Britain, the United States, Indonesia and the Creation of Malaysia
(Hardcover), by Matthew Jones. CambridgeUniversity Press (October 1, 2001).

This fascinating study looks at the
origins, outbreak and course of the Indonesian-Malaysian confrontation of 1963-1966,
within the context of British and American policies in South East Asia during the 1960s as
a whole. Matthew Jones uses new archival sources to throw fresh light on such subjects as
British Colonial policy and the creation of Malaysia, Anglo-American tensions over the
confrontation itself, and the diplomacy of that important, but often neglected,
international dispute. Information

This volume analyzes six ethnic conflicts
in postcolonial South and Southeast Asia, seeking to understand not only the internal
destabilization and havoc they have created, but also their dynamics and wider impact.
Brings together the perspectives of many well-known scholars for students and academics.
DLC: South Asia--History-Autonomy and independence movements.Information

Adeeb Khalid combines insights from the
study of both Islam and Soviet history in this sophisticated analysis of the ways that
Muslim societies in Central Asia have been transformed by the Soviet presence in the
region. Arguing that the utopian Bolshevik project of remaking the world featured a
sustained assault on Islam that destroyed patterns of Islamic learning and thoroughly
de-Islamized public life, Khalid demonstrates that Islam became synonymous with tradition
and was subordinated to powerful ethnonational identities that crystallized during the
Soviet period. He shows how this legacy endures today and how, for the vast majority of
the population, a return to Islam means the recovery of traditions destroyed under
Communism. Islam after Communism reasons that the fear of a rampant radical Islam that
dominates both Western thought and many of Central Asia's governments should be tempered
by an understanding of the politics of antiterrorism, which allows governments to justify
their own authoritarian policies by casting all opposition as extremist. Comparing the
secularization of Islam in Central Asia to experiences in Turkey, the former Yugoslavia,
and other secular Muslim states, the author lays the groundwork for a nuanced and
well-informed discussion of the forces at work in this crucial region.Information

In the first book ever to be published on
the neo-Taliban, Antonio Giustozzi provocatively argues that the appearance of the
neo-Taliban should in no way have been a surprise. Beginning in 2003, a growing body of
evidence began to surface that cast doubt on the official interpretation of the conflict.
With the West cutting corners to maintain peace within the country, which included
tolerating Afghanistan's burgeoning opium trade, the Taliban was able to regroup and grow
in strength, weapons, and recruits. Giustozzi's book poses a bold challenge to
contemporary accounts of the invasion and its aftermath and is an important investigation
into the rise and dangerous future of the neo-Taliban.Information

This is the first major work to be
published which analyses the phenomenon of revolutions based on a Maoist model, namely Thailand,
the Philippines, Peru and Sri Lanka. Unlike the Vietnamese Communists, however, all these
insurgencies modelled on Mao have failed, having been successfully contained by their
governments. The question is how did the world's strongest power - America - fail where Third
World governments have succeeded? The author seeks to provide the answers in order to
learn not only about the Maoist 'people's war' and counter-insurgency, but also to
identify the factors which contribute to a revolution.Information

Johnson examines the problems that have
plagued the region, including civil wars in Afghanistan and Tajikistan and burgeoning
Islamist terrorist movements in several nations. He explains the complex role played by
narcotics, ethnic tensions, and the potential wealth from oil and gas reserves in the
regions political maneuverings, and delineates the complex links between civil
violence and the policies of Central Asian governments on such crucial issues as human
rights, economic development and energy. A timely investigation, Oil, Islam and Conflict
will be required reading for all those invested in the threat of terrorism and the future
of energy security. Information

This book argues that explanations of
international relations in Asia in the post-second world war period have relied too much
on the cold war as a key explanatory factor, and have not given enough emphasis to the
useful concepts of 'regional power formation', 'conflict formation' and 'conflict
resolution'. The author outlines these concepts and goes on to elaborate them, and to
apply them to three key Asian regions - north-east, south-east, and south Asia -
discussing practical strategic issues in a historical perspective and arguing that the
concepts, and other concepts which he discusses, are extremely helpful in making sense of
the complex pattern of international relations in Asia.Information

Vince Boudreau compares strategies of
repression and protest in post-war Burma, Indonesia and the Philippines because these
alternative strategies shaped the social bases and opposition cultures available to
dissidents and, in turn, influenced their effectiveness. He includes first-hand research
as well as the social movements' literature to consider the interactions between the
regimes in the wake of repression, and the subsequent emergence of democracy. Boudreau
offers a genuinely comparative study of dictatorship and resistance in South East Asia.
Information

South Asia in
the World: Problem-Solving Perspectives on Security, Sustainable Development, and Good
Governance (Population
Studies) (Paperback), by Ramesh Thakur and Oddny Wiggen (Editors). United NationsUniversity
Press (May 2004).

One of every five people in the world
lives in the countries of South Asia  Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal,
Pakistan and Sri-Lanka. The problems faced by this population are so huge that they
present a defining challenge to the core mandates of the United Nations as the global
arena for problem-solving. These challenges range from economic development, environmental
protection, food and water security, democratic governance and human rights, nuclear war
and peace, inter-state and internal conflicts, and new security issues like AIDS and
international terrorism. South Asia in the World develops a dialogue between academics and
practitioners in a deeply divided region. It explores the potential for improvement in
domestic and international efforts to alleviate the problems of South Asia and the role
that the United Nations can play.Information

The wave of civil wars, terror attacks,
and insurgencies over the last half century has redefined our notion of protracted
conflicts. While the American news media have devoted primary coverage to the threat posed
by al-Qaeda since 9/11, other insurgent groups have arisen and gained momentum across the
map, and much less attention has been devoted to explaining what governmental policies
bring such insurgencies to an end. The result of a multiyear project, Terror, Insurgency,
and the State assembles the findings of scholars who conducted extensive field research
with rebel groups and governments. This comparative analysis documents the aim of
long-standing insurgent groups such as the Tamil Tigers, the IRA, the Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia, the Kurdistan Workers' Party, Basque Country and Liberty, and the
People's Liberation Army of the Communist Party of Nepal, as well as the more recently
visible Hizballah and Hamas. These groups represent varying kinds of insurgency. Several
strive for national liberation or territory. They are either secessionists who contend
with a central government that they regard as hostile, or irredentists who seek to reunify
a divided homeland. Others, with rural and peasant bases, emphasize economic inequalities,
class struggle, and socialism. At least three known factions are explicitly Islamist, with
a religious agenda and a paramilitary organization.Information

The State at War in South Asia (Studies in War,
Society, and the Military) (Hardcover), by Pradeep P. Barua. University of Nebraska
Press (May 1, 2005).

The State at War in South Asia is the
first book to cover such a vast period of South Asian military historymore than
three thousand years. In doing so, Pradeep P. Barua explores the states military
effectiveness and moves beyond the western and nonwestern dichotomy characterized by most
military analysis to date. He leads the reader through a selective study of significant
battles, campaigns, and wars fought on the subcontinent. Barua combines this overview with
an analysis of the state-building process, showing how the South Asian state has conducted
war under its many political guises from the prehistoric and ancient periods to the modern
era, with its threat of nuclear war. He challenges the historiographic idea that the
Western way of war is superior, while examining in detail those battles, such as the
Maratha-Afghan battle of 1763, that offer the most insight into the introduction of new
tactics, organization, and technology. This meticulous study offers a panoramic view of
the evolution of the South Asian states military system and its contribution to the
effectiveness of the state itself.Information

Throughout South and Southeast Asia,
groups battle over definitions of identity--in direction and character--for their state, a
struggle complicated by the legacy of colonialism. The contributors to this volume explore
the intricate, dynamic relationships that pertain between women's agency and the
state-making institutions and armed forces of Kashmir, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Burma
(Myanmar). They also address the complex roles of Islam, Hinduism, and Theravada Buddhism
in these postcolonial dynamics.Information